There have been conventionally indicator apparatuses in which a pointer points at an indicating portion on a dial (display plate). In such an indicator apparatus, the pointer is directly secured to a rotation shaft of a pointer drive means such as a stepping motor, and the pointer is rotated in association with rotation drive of the pointer drive means and thus caused to point at the indicating portion.
Such a structure, however, requires a punching step of forming a through hole for passing through the rotation shaft in the dial that complicates the manufacture of the dial, thereby causing the problem of the inability to manufacture the dial inexpensively. Especially, when a variable display element such as a liquid crystal display element is used for the dial as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a through hole should be formed in a glass substrate of the variable display element which leads to the problem of an increase in the manufacture cost of the variable display element.
Patent Document 1: JP-UM-A-3-44624
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2003-161650
To address the problems, the present applicant has proposed an indicator apparatus described in Patent Document 2 in which a first magnet is provided for a pointer and a second magnet is provided to a pointer drive means such that the pointer is rotated in association with rotation drive of the pointer drive means by the magnetic force (attraction force) of the first and second magnets. According to the structure, the dial can be manufactured easily and inexpensively without formation of a through hole in the display plate.